What was the life-changing prize that awaited the Curiosity app winner? Nothing, it turns out

Back in May 2013, then 18-year-old Bryan Henderson won the Curiosity cube game. Curiosity, which was big news at the time, asked iOS and Android gamers to click away at tiny chunks of a large cube to peel back multiple layers in order to strip it away to its very core.

The person to tap on the last remaining block was to win a "life-changing" prize, yet to be revealed. Henderson was that person and while his life has changed subsequently, it's not necessarily for the better.

Upon removing the last block, he was rewarded by a YouTube video announcement from Peter Molyneux, the founder of developer 22Cans and the games industry stalwart behind such well-known titles as the Fable series, Populous and Dungeon Keeper. In it, Molyneux promised Henderson would become a "digital God" in next game Godus and a cut of that title's profits.

Henderson was invited to 22Cans headquarters, met Molyneux briefly, played a pre-release build of Godus and signed a contract that is thought to entitle him to one per cent of the profits of the game, but he is yet to get a single penny. Or, indeed, the God of God access to Godus promised thanks to technical and development difficulties.

For months he would even email 22Cans regularly, only to be ignored.

"So I was like f*** it, I'm not going to try if you're not going to try," Henderson told Eurogamer.

"You're the one who's supposed to be professional. I'm just this kid who won this thing. And you're this game company. You're supposed to do everything and be the professional one out of me and you.

"It was a shoddy operation in terms of communication. I was like, fair enough. I suppose I'll speak to you when you speak to me."

Molyneux has since apologised in an interview with the gaming site. "I totally and absolutely and categorically apologise. That isn't good enough and I'll take it on my own shoulders that I should have made sure he was communicated with. We will from today onwards do that," he said.

The reason the God of God modes hasn't been implemented is that the required multiplayer mode of Godus hit a stumbling block in development. Molyneux claims that work is continuing to resolve that issue. As for royalties? The studio head will speak to Henderson. "We should keep him posted. I will speak to him myself," he said.